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n November of 2013, the Little Eden Board re-viewed our mission statement, “Little Eden exists to provide a Christian environment that nurtures and

encourages relationships to God and others through fellowship, worship, camping and education.” Through that review and with input from campers, past board members and the Master Site Plan Task Force, they sharpened a strategic plan for the future of Little Eden Camp.

The plan that has been emerging over the past four years recognizes that opportunities at Little Eden help strengthen families through inter-generational relation-ships, shared memories, educational and spiritual growth during family camps. It realizes that youth camps provide an incredible way to impact children and teens. And it provides ways for us to walk alongside churches, families and organizations as they minister in the non-summer season. Just as the building upgrades and expansions in the late 1980’s through early 2000’s grounded us for the last 30 years of ministry, this plan charts a roadmap so we can minister to the next gen-eration of campers for the next 30 years.

Progress at the township level. The township is

continuing the process of writing an amended special use permit which would give Little Eden Camp the rules

Proposed Master Site Plan Update

and regulations for all future projects and operations of the camp. One of the projects they tasked Little Eden with was getting an approved Pedestrian Crossing Plan from the Manistee County Road Commission (see article below for more details). With this now in place, the township has moved forward and, in the last month, has made remarkable progress. They hope to wrap up full approval of the site plan and special use permit in the coming months.

Proposed Master Site Plan Poll. The Little Eden

Board of Directors, along with the Master Site Plan Task Force, is reviewing the questions, comments, sugges-tions and feedback received this summer during family camps. The Board and Task Force would like to thank all who have given feedback already. In December, all members will be receiving a poll from the camp, which will ask if you support the Proposed Master Site Plan as it currently stands. The board wants to know what aspects of the plan you like, concerns you may have with the plan/parts of the plan and any other comments you feel may be helpful as the board reviews the feedback amassed this summer and from this mailing. We are asking that all members complete this poll and mail it back to the camp by January 15.

Watch your mail in December for the poll!

I November

2017

During this summer and since the last newsletter showing the up-dated proposed master site plan, two questions I have repeatedly been asked about are the Pedes-trian Crossing Plan and what the new Pines cabins would be like.

Pedestrian Crossing Plan. As a part of the steps

needed to expand across the road, the Onekama Town-ship Planning Commission has required us to work with a design expert (The DK Design Group) and the Manis-tee County Road Commission to get an agreement for our pedestrian crossing. Pedestrian crossing guidelines are set by the Michigan Department of Transportation

and are very specific, based on the road classification and its volume of traffic. They are permitted by the County Road Commission and fall under the Michigan State Police jurisdiction. Having worked through reviews with all parties involved, we have emerged with a plan that each entity embraces.

The pedestrian crosswalk would be located where the existing nature trail crossing currently is. This location gives the best line-of-sight distance with 600’ line-of-sight towards M-22 and 1150’ line-of-sight towards Lake Michigan (past the artesian well). Signage would include both warning signs 250’ before the crossing along with signs at the crosswalk with arrows pointed downward.

From the Director: Pedestrian crossing & Pines cabins

...continued on pg 2

Page 2

From the Director: The pedestrian crossing & Pines cabins (continued)

LIT TLE E DE N E CHOES

Pedestrian Crossing Plan ...continued from pg 1

These reflective signs would be equipped with button-activated L.E.D. flashing warn-ing lights to be initiated by people crossing the road.

The crosswalk would be marked with lat-eral, white lines in the direction of the traf-fic to indicate the crossing area. The plan also spells out that the crosswalk would be illuminated with an overhead streetlight as well as dark sky lighting on the path coming to and going from the crosswalk.

Pines cabins details. There was some confusion with the last map (October 2017 Newsletter) of the pro-posed Master Site Plan as to what the Pines cabins would be like. The proposed Master Site Plan in this newsletter includes more details of these cabins. The plan shows four buildings that replace the cabins to the east end of camp. The larger one shown would replace Shuffle Inn. This cabin would have four bedrooms with two lofts and potentially accommodate up to 26 people.

The other three buildings will be duplexes. This would al-low us to replace the Pines cabins without taking up as much green space as individ-ual cabins require. These cabins would have a feel similar to East and West Lin-ger Longer with full kitchens, living rooms and dining ar-eas. They would each have one bedroom on the main floor and a loft. Each unit could accommodate up to eight people if the sleeper sofa in the living room area is used. Cabins would be placed in such a way as to have decks with lake views at each unit.

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Permanent reservation holders must respond by March 1

he policy for permanent reservation holders, Section H of this policy states:

“Permanent Holders must inform the camp of their reser-vation plans by March 1st each year to allow sufficient time for calling people on the waiting list. Permanent Holders who fail to respond by March 1st will be marked as “not coming” and their permanent reservation for that year will be available for other campers.”

Historically, the office manager has been calling anyone who hasn’t responded by March 1 before proceeding with the up-grade and waiting list. This has held us captive from beginning to call anyone on the upgrade list or the waiting list in some family camp weeks until as late as the end of April or early May.

Two years ago, the board asked Kathy to keep track of how many people didn’t respond by March 1 and how late it was before she could begin calling the upgrade and waiting lists. In 2016, there were 77 permanent reservation holders who did

not respond by the March 1 due date and in 2017 there were 79. Both years, it was mid-April before she could begin calling the upgrade or waiting list for some weeks.

After many years of grace, the Board has unanimously ap-proved strict adherence to the policy beginning in 2018. All permanent reservation holders must respond by March 1. To aid in this process, everyone who responds with a “Yes” will receive a postcard or email confirming their reservation. To those who have not responded by February 15, a phone call will be made and a postcard will be sent on the 15th remind-ing them of the upcoming March 1 deadline date.

Those who have not responded by March 1 will be notified that their reservation has been cancelled and will be made available to someone on the upgrade or waiting list.

If a permanent reservation holder responds after March 1 or after having received this notification and a cabin or lodge room is still available, they will be given an opportunity to reserve one of those spots.

Calendar of Events

Victorian Sleighbell Weekend: November 30-December 3, 2017

This is a fun weekend in Manistee filled with traditional Christmas events—chestnuts roasting, carolers, shop owners dressed in Victorian clothing, a horse-drawn parade and more....Come stay at Little Eden while enjoying the festival! http://www.visitmanisteecounty.com/event/ victorian-sleighbell-parade-old-christmas-weekend/

Free Fishing: February 17-18, 2018 Scrapbook Weekend: April 19-22, 2018

For more information, visit http://www.littleeden.org/scrapbook-retreats.html

Spring Work Weekend: May 17-20, 2018 Watch the Spring Newsletter for more details.

T

ittle Eden Camp will be holding another Photo Contest this year. The win-ners in each category will again receive a $25 credit to the Little Eden Gift

Shop. Pictures must have been taken in the 2017 Season and must be submit-ted in high resolution digital format (jpeg or tiff) by January 1, 2018, with the understanding that they could be used in future marketing pieces, on the camp website or elsewhere. The two categories for this year are:

Scenic pictures – flowers, sunsets, the lake, animals, birds, the nature trail, etc.

People pictures – eating ice cream, sitting around the fire, fishing, jumping off the pier, families visiting together, adults, kids or any age just enjoying being at camp.

Names of the people in pictures will not be disclosed when using the photos. No copywritten or watermarked photos may be submitted. Please email the pictures to lyndaf@littleeden.org or burn a cd/transfer the photos to a usb drive and mail it to Little Eden Camp at 3721 Portage Point Drive, Onekama, MI 49675.

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he final non-draft copy of the 2016-2017 Annual Report

will be available for distribution after November 15. If you would like a copy, please email of-fice@littleeden.org or call the office at 231-889-4294, and we will send a copy to you. In the email or phone message, please let us know if you prefer a pdf file or a paper copy and where to send it.

Annual Report available

T

LITTLE EDEN CAMP 3721 Portage Point Dr Onekama, MI 49675

www.littleeden.org 231-889-4294

Non Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAID

Onekama, MI

Permit No. 35

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Inside this issue:

Proposed Master Site Plan Update 1 & 2

From the Director: Pedestrian crossing & Pines cabins 1 & 2

Permanent reservation holders must respond by March 1 3

Annual Report available after November 15 3

Calendar of Events 3

Photo Contest 2017 3

or those of you who may not have had the opportunity to be at camp this summer or didn’t get a chance to look

around when you were here, here is a list of projects accom-plished during the October 1, 2016 - September 30, 2017 Fiscal Year:

Trimmed trees along the driveways

Added grass on the ball field

Refinished the shuffle board courts

Stained Dew-Drop-Inn, the Linger Longers, Mo-Z-Inn, the round house and the waterfront shed

Replaced the deck and benches on Silver Creek

Re-roofed the Upper Room, Mo-Z-Inn, Pine Circle and Dream Haven

F Upgraded the floating docks making them more stable, purchased docks for jet skis, added four new commer-cial paddle boats and additional waterfront equipment and toys

Remodeled Dream Haven

Added swings and new bench seating at the main fire pit area

Replaced the aging plates and mugs in the dining room

Upgraded 13 beds from doubles to queen size

Replaced couches in several cabins & the lounge area There have also been other less visible projects around camp which include:

Upgraded the fire suppression system in the kitchen

Refurbished the walk-in fridge and freezers

Bought two new computers AND

Other upgrades to improve the functionality of camp

We truly try to be good stewards with what God has given us while making needed improvements to the facilities. Thank you to all who have given of their time, talents and finances to help make these improvements possible!

Summary of 2017 projects

As many of you know, camp doesn’t just happen. There is much work that goes into making camp what it is. Little Eden Camp’s Fall Work Weekend is one of those times where a lot of good people come together to help get camp ready for the next season. This fall was no exception – we had 48 people help.

Along with all the work accomplished, volunteers also en-joyed a great time of fellowship—working together as well as fellowshipping around the dinner table, over snack shop, and while sitting around the fireplace in the lodge. Consider joining us next year for the Spring and Fall Work Weekends on May 17-20 and October 18-21.